KUALA LUMPUR: “Good suggestion, but the wrong concept.”
That is how Professor Dr B. Vicknasingam described the proposal to gazette Narcotics Addiction Rehabilitation Centres (Puspen) as special prisons for drug addicts.
A professor of addiction at the Centre for Drug Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Vicknasingam said he agrees with the intention to prioritise treatment and rehabilitation. However, he stressed that the framing is fundamentally flawed and suggested that Puspen facilities be gazetted as treatment centres instead.
“The issue with calling it a prison is the stigma associated with the name. It carries a negative connotation,” he said.
“Compare that to someone being sent to a medical or healthcare facility, and it becomes far more acceptable.”
Vicknasingam was responding to a proposal by the Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) to gazette Puspen as special prisons to ease overcrowding and redirect drug users away from conventional prisons.
The proposal was put forward on Jan 26 by Datuk Kamarudin Md Ali, chairman of the MCPF committee on crime prevention and drug-related rehabilitation.
Vicknasingam warned that the approach risks undermining its own objectives.
“Puspen should be gazetted as a health facility. The real question is: what are you providing there?” he said.
“A health facility is where you provide treatment and rehabilitation. That makes sense. Prison, on the other hand, is inherently a form of punishment.”
“No one sends people to prison to receive treatment. A prison, by design, is not a therapeutic environment.”
He said the first issue that needs correcting is this basic misunderstanding.
“A prison exists to punish,” he said.
“Language matters deeply in shaping public perception. In a country where understanding of addiction remains limited, this distinction is critical.”
“Who would want to send their son or daughter to prison for treatment? They would send them to a health facility or rehabilitation centre.”
Vicknasingam said that unless the proposal is urgently reframed, it risks reinforcing stigma rather than reducing harm.
“This needs to be addressed quickly. Otherwise, it creates a very wrong perception. Society already holds very negative views about drug users. Sending them to ‘prison’ does not help in any way,” he added.